A Night to Remember

It has been a while since I have been able to update my blog. I had computer issues that occured right during Christmas making it vitually impossible for me to deal with them along with dealing with the consumer hub-bub that was consuming me in late December. Finally, by the time all computer issues were resolved I had a birthday, a twenty first birthday to be exact, and I started the second half of my junior year at California State University, Chico. Basically, all these events made it difficult for me to find time to worry about my blog. So, here is the first of many soon to come posts from the forest.

Last night I watched the Oscars for the first time, in well, ever. I tend to find that all movies involved in Oscar nomination are long, boring, and rather uninteresting. Last night though, I watched with a new found enthusiasm. The movie "Milk" starring Sean Penn (who I still remember as Jeff Spicolli, a surfer/stoner from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High")won an Oscar for best origional screen play and Penn took home an Oscar for best actor. The acceptance speeches of Penn and Dustin Lance Black were both extremely moving. Penn's speech touches on a subject that I am very passionate about:



It brings me joy to know that free speech has again returned to this nation without fear of the Bush administration and its right-wing cronies.

Another pleasant surprize at the Oscars was the presentation of the best documentary (a category he should have been nominated in) by Bill Maher. I typically didn't associate the average Oscar viewer with the average "Real Time with Bill Maher" viewer but true to character Maher delivered a zinger to religion. I was unable to find the clip on youtube.com but I am glad that an idea I agree with was represented at such a mainstream event.